I am still learning my way around the Torizon OS, carrier boards, and Torizon Cloud. My experience with the setup has been running custom build docker containers with application code reading sensor devices attached to I2C, CAN, and Serial ports. I use the portianer setup frequently to control docker on the devices. Since I am on a Mac M1, I can’t really use the VSCode plugins and do most things via the docker plugin and manually.
Anyway, my development boards (Mallow and Dahlia) have been running Torizon OS v5 with development containers from the Easy install setup. I recently upgraded one of the boards through the Torizon Cloud to Torizon OS 7.1.0+build.4 (scarthgap) with the full docker container setup.
The upgrade went flawlessly, I can get to the portianer application with no problems. In my previous setup on v5, there were three containers that startup (torizon-portainer, torizon-weston, and torizon-kiosk) that I assumed were part of the portainer setup. After upgrading to v7, the three containers are still there, but only kthe portainer one starts up, the other to show an exited status and won’t stay running. Again, I assume these are probably not necessary anymore?
I was wondering if there are any docs that explain what these containers are if if they are infact no longer needed in v7? This is pretty much a noob question… but I cant seem to find info in the online docs.
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Hello!
In Torizon OS, container management is facilitated by Portainer, a lightweight management UI that simplifies handling Docker environments. Portainer is included in Torizon’s evaluation image, providing a user-friendly interface for managing containers.
With the release of Torizon OS 7, there have been significant updates. This version is based on Toradex BSP 7, which utilizes NXP BSP 6.6.y, marking a shift from previous BSP versions. This change may affect how containers are managed and utilized.
Regarding specific containers:
Portainer remains a core component for managing containers in Torizon OS.
Weston, a Wayland-based compositor, is available as a container, supporting graphical applications.
Containers are tailored for different SoC families to ensure compatibility with vendor-maintained kernels.
For the latest container configurations, you can explore the templates available in Portainer’s App Templates section. Additionally, the Toradex Developer Center offers comprehensive resources on running and managing containers with Portainer and the command line.
I hope this information helps you navigate container management in Torizon OS. If you have further questions, feel free to ask!
To start off, going from Torizon 5.X to 7.X is quite a leap in versions. While the core functionalities should still all be the same, you’ll most likely run into many major and minor differences.
After upgrading to v7, the three containers are still there, but only kthe portainer one starts up, the other to show an exited status and won’t stay running. Again, I assume these are probably not necessary anymore?
So we actually stopped using Portainer with our Torizon releases, for quite some time now. If you were to flash a fresh 7.1.0 image today you would instead see what we call our “Easy Pairing” application: Pair the Device | Toradex Developer Center
You can still of course run any container images you want on Torizon, we just don’t have Portainer by default anymore.
@jeremias.tx, thanks for the insight. This makes sense. The carrier boards I have were provisioned last year. The upgrade to v7 worked great. I did the upgrade uisng the torizon cloud. So if portainer container still offered by Toradex, or do I need to create my own image going foward?
So if portainer container still offered by Toradex, or do I need to create my own image going foward?
To be clear, we Toradex do not “provide” Portainer. We do not develop or maintain Portainer. Portainer is 3rd party software that we happened to use in the past. Portainer is still publicly available from the Portainer maintainers: https://hub.docker.com/r/portainer/portainer-ce
May I ask why you are interested in Portainer? It’s not necessary for anything and no one really uses it in production.
Hi @jeremias.tx, to be clear, we don’t need portainer. We only use it in development as it’s a nice way to quickly check if one of our boards has the right images and containers up and running. We primarily use command-line docker commands and the --context flag to do any real work.
One thing that would be nice is an arm version of the Toradxex VSCode plugins. We primarily use MacOS and Apple silicon for development, and the current plugins, which are very nice, won’t run on arm. We have to use the docker plugin and the command line, which works, but it’s just not as convenient as the Toradex plugins.
One thing that would be nice is an arm version of the Toradxex VSCode plugins.
I can pass this on to our team for consideration. Though if I’m being honest this isn’t likely to be a priority for our team in the near future. Not that we don’t want to do it, but I’m sure you’re familiar how it can be with balancing priorities and requests in software development these days.
Absolutely! I’m right there with you . Even without the vscode plugins, the workflow relative to working with the Toradex boards is nice. I very much like the products.
. Even without the vscode plugins, the workflow relative to working with the Toradex boards is nice. I very much like the products.